UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, December 3, 1996
3
KU on Wheels may raise fares change routes
By Spencer Duncan
Kansan staff writer
Although bus pass sales increased this semester, KU on Wheels is planning a price increase and pondering route changes.
KU on Wheels sold 6,200 bus passes this semester. That is 400 more than the 5,800 sold during the 1996 Spring semester.
"We've done well," said Bob Grunzinger, KU on Wheels coordinator. "The sales were actually better than we had expected."
Permits cost $60 each semester this year, with a $5 discount if purchased from the options card filled out at enrollment. The sale of the permits brought in a little more than $350,000 for the bus system.
Although sales have brought in needed money, KU on Wheels still expects changes to come soon.
"There are some things that need to be done to make the system more efficient and bring in more revenue," Grunzinger said. "We haven't decided on what all the changes will be. We have one more meeting before the end of the semester and that will be discussed."
One change that is certain is that next year's bus passes will be more expensive.
"I don't know what the increase will be, but it will probably have to happen," Grunzinger said. "We have to meet costs. But the problem we have to consider is not making the cost of the passes so much that people won't buy them."
Alvin Merz, Topeka junior and bus pass owner, said he would hesitate to buy a pass next year if prices were raised. Merz said he would be more inclined to purchase a parking permit and drive to campus. Parking permits for yellow zones are $53.
"I am not going to pay more money for a bus pass when I can get a parking permit for less," Merz said. "I am going to do what is cheaper for me."
Grunzinger said he was aware of the difference in bus pass and parking permit costs.
"That is a real problem," Grunzinger said. "If we raise the bus pass prices and parking permits are cheaper, people probably aren't going to buy as many passes. But the pass prices haven't been raised in almost two years, so this shouldn't be a bad increase."
Pass prices are not all that is going to change. Grunzinger said KU on Wheels would consider making route changes, effective next semester. He said he had no idea what those changes would be at this time, but that it was important to make changes to make the system more efficient.
"I don't like to make changes mid-semester," Grunzinger said. "But it may need to be done, and we will do what we think is best for the bus system."
Donation has school wired up
AlliedSignal gives $15,000 to Engineering
By Stephanie Fite Kansan staff writer
Christmas may come before Dec. 25 for three engineering departments.
AlliedSignal, a corporation that manufactures aerospace and automotive products, plastics and fibers donated $15,000 to the School of Engineering in April 1995. The money has since passed through the KU Endowment Association, and the electrical engineering and computer science department, the minority engineering department and the mechanical engineering department will each get $5.000 before winter break.
"AlliedSignal has supported the School of Engineering in a number of ways over the years," said Carl Locke, dean of the School of Engineering. "We are very appreciative of their support and hope to continue to strengthen the ties between the two organizations. This latest contribution will benefit the three programs and will be very helpful to students and faculty involved."
The KU School of Engineering was one of 100 engineering schools across the United States
"The designated gifts give students the opportunity to learn about the
latest technology."
Jane Jankowski Allied Signal Federal Manufacture and Technology
to receive money from AlliedSignal. The $5,000 will go to student organizations, Engineering Expo participation competitions, books and tapes for classrooms and laboratories and
recognition ceremonies.
KU engineering was chosen because it is near the AlliedSignal Kansas City, Mo., branch, said Jane Jankowski, public affairs officer for Allied Signal Federal Manufacture & Technology. The Kansas City, Mo., plant makes non-nuclear electrical, electronic and plastic components for nuclear weapons.
"KU provides a number of outstanding graduates," Jankowski said. "A number of our employees are Kansas graduates. We try to provide some form of support. The designated gifts give students the opportunity to learn about the latest technology."
AlliedSignal donates money to the Engineering school annually, and the amount depends
upon the company's yearly budget. Jankowski said.
The $15,000 amount was decided upon by this year's budget and varies each year, Jankowski said.
"We add contributions like that of AlliedSignal to our general, unrestricted endowment fund for the benefit of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department," said Jim Roberts, director of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department. "We have used donations like AlliedSignal's to successfully compete on a national level for top-quality faculty. AlliedSignal is a good friend of EECS at KU, and we appreciate their helping us make a difference."
Festival features more than pine
Annual auction benefits shelter
By Liz Musser
Kansan staff writer
The Festival of Trees is not just about trunks and branches covered in pine needles.
It is also about coffee cans stacked in a pyramid and balloons arranged in the shape of a Jawhawk.
Those are only a couple of the creative entries in the Annual Festival of Trees on display at Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St.
"We've had a good variety of trees this year; people have
been a lot more imaginative than last year," said Judy Culley, an organizer of the festival.
The Festival of Trees, which is in its 10th year, is a benefit for The Shelter Inc., a local organization that provides temporary housing for troubled adolescents.
"A lot of the trees are bought and then put in homes or businesses," said Culley, who is
During the festival, trees that have been designed and decorated by local businesses, community organizations and individuals are displayed and auctioned off. This year's festival has 52 trees, and the auction is at 7 tonight.
the director of The Shelter.
"Some people will even buy
them as gifts."
Karen Smith,
Lawrence resident and volunteer at The Shelter Inc., checks to see whether the trees in the Festival of Trees need water. The festival is on display through Thursday at Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St.
Geoff Krieger /
Culley said that the trees were auctioned at an average of $500 each last year, with one tree going for $5,000. The total revenue of last year's auction was $30,000.
The Alpha Xi Delta sorority was one organization that decorated a tree for this year's festival.
Amy Heinemann, Newton sophomore and the sorority's philanthropy chair, said the sorority called its tree "Hung by the Chinney with Care." Members of the sorority cut construction paper into the shape of stockings and brought them to the Ballard Community Center, 708 Elm St.
KANSAN
Preschoolers at the Ballard Center decorated the stockings and then members of the sorority hung them on a pine tree.
The trees will be displayed from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. through Thursday at Liberty Hall
"We think of the Festival of Trees not only as a fundraiser, but also as a fun way for the community to begin the Christmas season," Culley said.
Balloons hang from the ceiling above trees at the Festival of Trees benefit in Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St. This display benefits The Shelter Inc., an organization that helps troubled youth.
Asian gang suspect in kidnapping
The Associated Press
MERIDEN, Conn. — When his classmates returned to school Monday after their long holiday weekend, 12-year-old Wei Yang's desk was conspicuously and frighteningly empty.
Wei, son of a Chinese restaurateur,
hasn't been seen since he was dragged
barefoot and jacket-less from his
home the night before Thanksgiving
by two Asian gunmen who bound his
mother and sister in packing tape.
Investigators won't discuss the case or speculation that it is linked to Asian gangs targeting Chinese restaurant owners.
rou wonder if it's random," said a neighbor who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal. "I hope the police will let everyone in the neighborhood know. Are we still safe? Can our kids come out and play?"
Police said the kidnappers burst into the Yangs' home Wednesday night and demanded money. They bound his mother and 17-year-old sister, then took the boy, who was wearing only
jeans, a flowery T-shirt and his glasses.
Wei's sister, Katie Yang, managed to free herself and ran to a neighbor's home for help, strips of packing tape still tied around her torso. She was hysterical and said the phone lines to her house had been cut, said the unidentified neighbor, who observed the commotion.
Police said one of the kidnappers, in his 20s, was about 5-foot-5, clean shaven and had blond, curly hair, apparently dyed. The other, between the ages of 25 and 30, was about 5-foot-7, clean shaven and had short black hair.
The family has been renting a house for about a year on a quiet street lined with neatly trimmed lawns and modest, Cape Cod-style houses. A man who answered the door Monday said
the family would not discuss the kid- napping.
Neighbors said the Yangs shared the home at times with more than a dozen people, mostly young Asian men. But that's not unusual for immigrant restaurant workers, said John Weiss, officer in charge of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Hartford.
Chinese restaurant owners and their families have been targeted by Asian gangs several times in Connecticut this year in what authorities have described as outreach by international organized crime rings into New England.
In January, the owner of a Chinese restaurant near New London was kidnapped and held for a week until his family in China paid a ransom. And just more than a year ago, a Chinese family in North Branford was followed home from a restaurant and robbed of $18,000 in cash and
In May, three women related to the owner of a Chinese restaurant in Guilford were robbed.
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At Israel Putnam Elementary School, where Wei is in the fifth grade, four counselors, a social worker and a school psychologist were on hand Monday to comfort his classmates.
School officials would not allow reporters to talk with students and referred all questions to Schools Superintendent Beth Ruocco.
Principal Margaret Rick spoke to the school's 540 or so students at a morning assembly, and teachers later let their classes discuss the kidnapping, Ruocco said. About 20 students sought private counseling offered by the school.
"The counselors talked with them about their fears for him — some of them know him and were very concerned," Ruocoo said. "They also talked about the fact that (kidnapping) is very unusual, and tried to reassure them about that."
The abduction has had a chilling effect in Meriden, an industrial city of about 59,000 people 17 miles south of Hartford.
Arson suspected in Wichita church fire
WICHITA — Arson is suspected in a fire that damaged the predominantly African-American Holy Temple Church of God in Christ, just hours after members finished feeding the poor at an annual dinner.
The fire, which occurred shortly after midnight on Saturday, was being investigated as an arson, said Lt. Kent Grier of the Wichita Fire Department. No one was hurt. Damage was estimated at $100,000.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was investigating the fire as suspicious, but said it was too early to say whether the blaze had been racially motivated.
"We have no idea who would
do something like this," said the Rev. Freddie L. Anderson. "As far as any of us know, our church had absolutely no enemies."
Flames erupted near the pulp, near some musical instruments and in the rear of the sanctuary, where the most damage was found, officials said. The fire also climbed a wall and charred rafters.
Hours before the fire, church members had served food at a yearly dinner to about 250 needy people.
Many of the church's 90 to 100 registered members were stunned on Sunday.
The congregation gathered Sunday at a beauty salon owned by one of the members because the church was unusable.